Undecided

[8692574]

Hello everyone, I am currently in need of a Laptop (mine got stolen) and i am really undecided.

A must are 256 GB HD and 8 gig ram but cannot really decide if wait for Skylake (if something is expected for October) or buy now..... and even more if i buy now what to get..

MacBook Air 11 / 13.... it is nice and portable ..kinda the best of both world... but no retina display 🙁 (the stolen mac was the 2015 11 Air and loved it....apart from screen as said)
MacBook Pro 13 ... a little more heavy but prefere the batterylife of the Air
MacBook ... it would be a nice fit but really concerned about the performance

It is not like i would to heavy stuff but definetly work on illustrator and some light photoshop, but really cannot stand laggyness and from time to time i edit some video 1080 from my Gopro (not movies ...more clips), portability....battery life and performance here are the 3 decision point... what would you do?

 

[SteveJUAE]

This is a tough call, if you base it on purely specs/$ then the MBP is the winner IMO

But

Considering you were use to the 11" MBA the foot print of the MBP will annoy you but you will love the screen

The rMB you will love the screen and the footprint after the 11" MBA but have concerns on performance

I would say physical difference (ie footprint/weight/screen) cannot be easily ignored but the fact that some programme may open a few milliseconds slower is soon forgotten if even noticed.

I have always bought the highest spec portable laptops and I am surprised the rMB handles all my requirements. I often have to look/view technical documents and drawings in addition to normal everyday office apps with no problem.

I stopped buying the 11" MBA due to the screen not being updated to Retina else I may of opted for a full spec'ed out one instead of the rMB.

Looking at your requirements I think the rMB will give you the best options in terms of physicality your use to, with minor reductions in battery life and performance possibilities that you may never use.

As to should you wait that's an old recurring scenario 🙂

 

[8692574]

I am leaning more towards the rMB, as said i am a little concerned about performance (it would be nice to know how it stacks up to the current 11 inches MBA 1.6...since that one was going well for me).

Ports are not totally an issue, i mean i can live with that... just don't know if the price / performance ratio is good enought.... the footprint is the sweet spot..light and portable....even more than my beloved Air.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I am leaning more towards the rMB, as said i am a little concerned about performance (it would be nice to know how it stacks up to the current 11 inches MBA 1.6...since that one was going well for me).

Ports are not totally an issue, i mean i can live with that... just don't know if the price / performance ratio is good enought.... the footprint is the sweet spot..light and portable....even more than my beloved Air.

Well if you never really stressed your air then the rMB should perform just about the same, unless you say what you will be using it for it's difficult to advise.

 

[boltjames]

I am leaning more towards the rMB, as said i am a little concerned about performance (it would be nice to know how it stacks up to the current 11 inches MBA 1.6...since that one was going well for me).

Ports are not totally an issue, i mean i can live with that... just don't know if the price / performance ratio is good enought.... the footprint is the sweet spot..light and portable....even more than my beloved Air.

Apple has a 14 day return policy.

Get a RMB today, put it through its paces over the weekend, report back to this thread and let us know your thoughts.

BJ

 

[8692574]

Thank you for your help guys... unfortunately getting Apple to honor the 14 days here in Italy is a pain in the ...... so that won't be an option.

As i said i do mostly Illustrator things (light nothing too fancy) some light Photoshop and some GoPro video edits, also work on websites, but that does not require much since most of the stuff is server based (cms and such so performance of the machine has little to do with it).

I might go to the Apple Store and see if they let me "test" my workflow, but i was curiosu to know what people tought of the rMB since it has been released for 7 months now....and surely there are some testing around with similar workflow......looking more at people impression than reviews since most of them are biased (one way or another).

 

[jazz1]

All I can say is that El Capitan has finally made my 1.2 12" MacBook a keeper. Before this it didn't perform as well as I had hoped. Size, weight, and keyboard are great.

 

[rob.james.arias]

Size, form factor design are great. Performance leaves a lot to be desired, even just opening word or excel can slow it down a bit. That said I wold not trade my rMB for the world.

 

[8692574]

Thank you all for your help, I went to the Applestore yesterday, and at the end I was battled between the 13 pro and the 12 retina...... No more non Retina display for me.

Tried the 12 and was amazed by footprint and weight, loved the keyboard, and I think I could have lived without ports.....but the speed just was not there.....and I wasn't even doing anithing particular....so I was leaning towards the pro.

The pro has amazing performance ( for my needs) sure it weights more, and that is an issue....even if it seems a little heavier on the long run you can defiantly tell!!! And it is also pricier 1499€ for the 12 1699 for the pro.

Luckily a trip to the refurb store showed a 13 with 8 gb ram and 256 sad for 1439€.....it was an easy task to decide then.....guess I'll have to live with the weight, but there were many more pluses....performance, ports, MagSafe, screen size ( even if small difference there) ....I am sure it'll last longer than the 12 incher.

 

[SteveJUAE]

enjoy 🙂

Thank you all for your help, I went to the Applestore yesterday, and at the end I was battled between the 13 pro and the 12 retina...... No more non Retina display for me.

Tried the 12 and was amazed by footprint and weight, loved the keyboard, and I think I could have lived without ports.....but the speed just was not there.....and I wasn't even doing anithing particular....so I was leaning towards the pro.

The pro has amazing performance ( for my needs) sure it weights more, and that is an issue....even if it seems a little heavier on the long run you can defiantly tell!!! And it is also pricier 1499€ for the 12 1699 for the pro.

Luckily a trip to the refurb store showed a 13 with 8 gb ram and 256 sad for 1439€.....it was an easy task to decide then.....guess I'll have to live with the weight, but there were many more pluses....performance, ports, MagSafe, screen size ( even if small difference there) ....I am sure it'll last longer than the 12 incher.

 

[Jobsian]

Thank you all for your help, I went to the Applestore yesterday, and at the end I was battled between the 13 pro and the 12 retina...... No more non Retina display for me.

Tried the 12 and was amazed by footprint and weight, loved the keyboard, and I think I could have lived without ports.....but the speed just was not there.....and I wasn't even doing anithing particular....so I was leaning towards the pro.

The pro has amazing performance ( for my needs) sure it weights more, and that is an issue....even if it seems a little heavier on the long run you can defiantly tell!!! And it is also pricier 1499€ for the 12 1699 for the pro.

Luckily a trip to the refurb store showed a 13 with 8 gb ram and 256 sad for 1439€.....it was an easy task to decide then.....guess I'll have to live with the weight, but there were many more pluses....performance, ports, MagSafe, screen size ( even if small difference there) ....I am sure it'll last longer than the 12 incher.

Out of interest, what was the performance difference?

Congrats on your purchase!

 

[8692574]

Well the general feel of the machine made me go towards the Pro, the fact that using cocktail and dvdfab to convert my Bluray for the Apple TV is also a lot faster is a good thing.

There might not be one single task that is soo much faster but when you combine all the "small" steps you get at the end it is worthed.

The price was also a deciding factor for even less than the 12 I got the pro 13 if the 12 was to be priced at 1200 ( similar discount that I got for the pro) I Might have been in trouble deciding again.


The compromise I decided to take is weight and hopefully it'll pay off in the long run.

 

[Jobsian]

If you weren't crunching videos often I would have definitely recommended you get the rMB (or at least wait for Skylake). From my own experience and everyone I know (regrets, u-turns etc), portability almost always beats the extra bit of grunt in the long run. But it sounds like you actually will benefit from the extra CPU. Enjoy it!

 

[8692574]

If you weren't crunching videos often I would have definitely recommended you get the rMB (or at least wait for Skylake). From my own experience and everyone I know (regrets, u-turns etc), portability almost always beats the extra bit of grunt in the long run. But it sounds like you actually will benefit from the extra CPU. Enjoy it!

Would have waited if it was a matter of days i.e. October but seems unlikely and unfortunately seems like it is next year and I have some work to do for some clients and cannot postpone it too much.

I know I might regret the portability, but when next year a new so will come I am sure I'll be less worried about performance ( as I do not plan to update each year) and I am sure I will enjoy the extra speed when editing the GoPro videos 😉

It was not a straight forward decision, and compromise had to be done, but cannot beat the price I got 😉

 

[Max(IT)]

Thank you for your help guys... unfortunately getting Apple to honor the 14 days here in Italy is a pain in the ...... so that won't be an option.

As i said i do mostly Illustrator things (light nothing too fancy) some light Photoshop and some GoPro video edits, also work on websites, but that does not require much since most of the stuff is server based (cms and such so performance of the machine has little to do with it).

I might go to the Apple Store and see if they let me "test" my workflow, but i was curiosu to know what people tought of the rMB since it has been released for 7 months now....and surely there are some testing around with similar workflow......looking more at people impression than reviews since most of them are biased (one way or another).

The 14 days remorse period works here in Italy too, if you buy it in an official Apple Store.

 

[8692574]

The 14 days remorse period works here in Italy too, if you buy it in an official Apple Store.

Bought from Apple online store (refurbished) I guess the only remorse I would have is if a new version comes before 2016 😉